To be fed up of the "I'm a key worker" line now

[Chishelled]

Fair play, I do understand that not every key worker is pulling this out at opportunity and that not all key workers are acting like entitled selfish twits, plus the fact DP and I (although only on day two) are both NHS - him as a doctor and me within mental health.

Our entire local facebook page is full of "I am a key worker, I need to get petrol, people are being so selfish" BUT why do key workers expect to be prioritised for petrol now, particularly when many of the ones posting work in our local hospital which is a 20 minute walk away??

It's just all adding to the scare mongering and hype by trotting out the "I'm a key worker, I need petrol priority...[it's going to run out again], plus plenty of people are having to commute back to work due to the end of furlough and the fact that offices are well and truly reopen - are their jobs seen as lesser?

I propose on the spot fines for anyone who uses the phrase "I am a key worker" to get preferential treatment from this point forwards [unless of course we go back into Lockdown again]

[1DoesNotSimplyWalkIntoMordor]

@Chiselled most of our domestics and porters start at 6am or finish at 9pm including weekends and bank holidays, absolutely essential to the running of the hospital.

[kristplankook]

I was fed up of it months ago and I am one myself.

I had colleagues jumping the queue in the supermarket waving their NHS pass, and we only have a NHS pass to access the building, we work for social services paid by local authority - doing this on a Saturday in their own time! Not even in a rush between calls or whatever. Taking the piss.

I was annoyed by the NHS/key worker discounts because at least they still had their jobs and could still afford the stuff they wanted unlike many who lost jobs etc.

Still, it's calmed down now petrol wise, but the district nurses and carers I work closely with - they needed the petrol to get to patients in the community who would be without care otherwise. I do think that if this had carried on they would need some kind of priority because the petrol is not to GET them to work, it's so they can actually do their job. It really could be life or death if someone is left without their care.

[Waxonwaxoff0]

@shallIswim

But *@Waxonwaxoff0* you are key in a way: you work and pay taxes to pay for the key workers.
This is why I hate the term. And I have plenty of 'key worker' friends and family. Tho thankfully they don't use that term!

I agree and I found it difficult during lockdowns as my job cannot be done from home but everyone assumed all non key workers can just work from home! The manufacturing industry has been told to operate as normal throughout, meaning I had to get DS into school on a key worker place based on the fact that my ex husband is a key worker to enable me to go to work otherwise I'd have lost my job and house.

[LoisLane66]

Even what are categorised as 'not key worker jobs' are really important.
Imagine a clock. You see the face, the numerals and the hands, the fancy strap but how does it work? Under the face there are dozens of moving parts, each one vital to make the whole movement work.
The workers behind the scenes in any business, are the moving parts which make the company or business tick. Never forget that.

[Offmyfence]

@Mollymoostoo

I'm a teacher and I am more than happy for everyone going back to teaching their children at home because I can't get petrol to get into work.
I also have to drop my child at the childminders so need fuel, but if everyone is happy to teach and work from home, no problem...

Shame you're not paid to teach from home ...

[Againstmachine]

Exactly if we don't all go to work and pay our taxes, the NHS doesnt get any money.

[shallIswim]

But @Waxonwaxoff0 you are key in a way: you work and pay taxes to pay for the key workers.
This is why I hate the term. And I have plenty of 'key worker' friends and family. Tho thankfully they don't use that term!

[Waxonwaxoff0]

@Mygirlruby

Taking this a bit further then, who is NOT a keyworker and why? I bet most people would have some way of justifying themselves as having key roles in either healthcare, social safety and order, utilities, clothing, food, medicines, education etc

I am not. I work in a factory that makes luxury furniture.

[LST]

@Mygirlruby

Taking this a bit further then, who is NOT a keyworker and why? I bet most people would have some way of justifying themselves as having key roles in either healthcare, social safety and order, utilities, clothing, food, medicines, education etc

I get ware in from overseas... I am in no way a kw.

[Mygirlruby]

Taking this a bit further then, who is NOT a keyworker and why? I bet most people would have some way of justifying themselves as having key roles in either healthcare, social safety and order, utilities, clothing, food, medicines, education etc

[KurtWilde]

@Mollymoostoo

I'm a teacher and I am more than happy for everyone going back to teaching their children at home because I can't get petrol to get into work.
I also have to drop my child at the childminders so need fuel, but if everyone is happy to teach and work from home, no problem...

Right so everyone else who needs to get to work should wfh? Have a word with yourself.

[Waxonwaxoff0]

@Mollymoostoo

I'm a teacher and I am more than happy for everyone going back to teaching their children at home because I can't get petrol to get into work.
I also have to drop my child at the childminders so need fuel, but if everyone is happy to teach and work from home, no problem...

Not everyone can work from home. Other people need to go out to work to pay bills as well.

[LST]

@Mollymoostoo

I'm a teacher and I am more than happy for everyone going back to teaching their children at home because I can't get petrol to get into work.
I also have to drop my child at the childminders so need fuel, but if everyone is happy to teach and work from home, no problem...

Course you are 🤣

[Offmyfence]

@Mollymoostoo

I'm a teacher and I am more than happy for everyone going back to teaching their children at home because I can't get petrol to get into work.
I also have to drop my child at the childminders so need fuel, but if everyone is happy to teach and work from home, no problem...

Christ, this is going to be the answer for every more isn't it! Teach them yourself, no thought that the parents might have to go back in the office or retail etc or not be paid, therefore risking their homes etc.

I think everyone is managing to get petrol, it is a queue system, everyone just needs to get in the queue and wait.....

The pandemic really has handed some people the golden get out.....

Presumably you can walk your child to the childminders to enable you to work from home?

[Mollymoostoo]

I'm a teacher and I am more than happy for everyone going back to teaching their children at home because I can't get petrol to get into work.
I also have to drop my child at the childminders so need fuel, but if everyone is happy to teach and work from home, no problem...

[Explosivefarts]

@KurtWilde oh I can definitely believe it. Some NHS workers think they are god like. My neighbour who works 10-2 in a office used to delight in jumping the queue at supermarkets after her tiring 4 hour shift. While pensioners were out standing in the rain. They have no shame .

[KurtWilde]

@anon666

YANBU - it doesn't give you a free pass for life just because you claim to be a "key worker".

Bored of it now. Along with GP surgeries bunkered in despite everyone else having returned to nearly normal.

It's just an excuse now.

Agreed. Someone cut straight to the front of the queue in primark at the weekend by flashing an NHS card on a lanyard, to buy slippers. It's a joke now how entitled some people have decided they are.

[AdobeWankenobi]

I was behind a woman in Tesco a few weeks ago who was wearing a shirt with writing all over it proclaiming her 'Key Worker' status, you know the kind you see on the ads between posts on Facebook.

I confess my eyes rolled so hard. I know genuine keywords as well and none would be wearing one.

[MyrtlethePurpleTurtle]

@SoupDragon

To be fair, if we'd had more "key worker" HGV drivers we wouldn't be in this mess 😂

Indeed!

[anon666]

The reality is that there is a minority of people who are super entitled, and think they are gods gift. They'll use any opportunity to get one over, whether legitimate or not.

Its super annoying, more so because it makes people cynical and tarnishes the whole thing.

It's like any other system where there are freeloaders. Where there is an advantage or something free, there will be someone at the front of that queue, deserving it not

[Bangolads]

With regards to the petrol. People are annoying, if you don’t want to be endlessly irritated don’t use Facebook. I think it’s a bit of a jump to say that Karen on Facebook saying she’s a key worker is contributing to panic buying.

[Bangolads]

@Orangedaisy on a tangent, if misspelled words aren’t down to dyslexia alone in your opinion- what do you think they’re down to? Laziness? Lack of education? Stupidity? Always intrigued by these rather mean spirited supercilious posts.

[Waxonwaxoff0]

YANBU. I am not a key worker but my job can NOT be done from home. Our industry has been open throughout lockdowns and we were still expected to go in. Personally I don't own a car so I don't even need fuel but I need to go to work to pay my bills, as do many others.

[Lovewinemorethanhusband]

Yanbu - my husband and I are both classed as key workers , I work for a energy firm and my husband worked for telecoms , in the first lockdown the letter I had from my work which would have allowed me out if I needed to made me sound like I was running the country !! I still work from home there's nothing Key that I do apart from get shouted at by complaint customers !
My husband now works as a csm for a major supermarket it's hilarious what's he's dealt with the last few days within the petrol station !

[burritofan]

Water and electricity companies are key to society functioning but never saw them mentioned during lockdown.
Most utilities workers were designated key workers, they just didn’t get a doorstep clap. The focus was, rightly, on the NHS because lockdown was about preventing the NHS going under.